UniSQ Associate Professor Sambasivam Periyannan with CottonInfo program lead Janelle Montgomery. Photo: Melanie Jenson

A PARTNERSHIP between the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, the University of Southern Queensland, and the Qld Department of Agriculture and Fisheries will help safeguard Australian cotton growers against the rising threat of disease and mitigate its economic impacts.

With disease already impacting Australian cotton growers, and climate change threatening to increase the spread, CRDC has made its largest ever single investment in a first-of-its-kind collaborative approach to cotton-disease research: the $13-million Australian Cotton Disease Collaboration (ACDC).

“Disease is a critical challenge for Australia’s cotton industry, contributing to significant yield losses which undermine long-term confidence in growing cotton,” CRDC innovation broker Elsie Hudson said.

“In extreme cases, disease pressure is forcing some growers to opt out of cotton production.

“Recent research commissioned by CRDC has found that across the cotton industry, disease is causing an 8 percent reduction in yield.”

For growers directly affected by disease, they are seeing an average reduction in yield of 12pc, and in some extreme cases, losses can be 100pc.

“While CRDC has invested in cotton-disease research over several decades, the impact disease is having on growers’ profitability and productivity is increasing.”

ACDC aims to deliver a comprehensive coordinated national disease program that will help understand the impact of disease, enhance foundational pathology resources and capability, and deliver tactical management and innovative technical solutions.

CRDC’s goal is to reduce the economic impact of current and emerging diseases of cotton to less than 5pc of the cost of production, down from 14pc at present, by 2028 through practice change and research, development and extension.

As the first initiative announced under CRDC’s new five-year strategic RD&E Plan, Clever Cotton, ACDC embodies the shift away from smaller projects to bigger investments with bigger outcomes and bigger impact.

ACDC and UniSQ have appointed Associate Professor Sambasivam Periyannan, a plant pathologist at UniSQ with expertise in crop-pathogen interactions, as ACDC’s inaugural director.

“UniSQ is a renowned agricultural, research-intensive university, strategically located in Toowoomba on Queensland’s Darling Downs – a prime cotton-growing region,” Dr Periyannan said.

“This collaboration will enhance UniSQ’s research capabilities and bring significant benefits to CRDC, training next-generation researchers and consultants for the cotton industry.

“As a nationwide collaborative project, ACDC brings multiple experts from various agencies together to tackle disease in cotton.”

The project will look to extend beyond national borders, and collaborate with cotton researchers from leading cotton-producing countries overseas, namely the US, India, China, Brazil, and Pakistan.

“Through knowledge and material sharing, this global network will ensure the Australian cotton industry’s preparedness and contribution to the global cotton industry’s resilience against outbreaks of new strains of cotton pathogens.”

DAF’s Agri-Science Queensland executive director Wayne Hall said QDAF continues to invest in cotton-disease research to protect the future of the cotton industry and this collaborative approach will amplify this effort.

“This initiative demonstrates DAF’s commitment to collaboration and to providing cotton growers with tactical management strategies to enhance disease resilience and sustainability,” Dr Hall said.

Moree, NSW, cotton-grower Mick Humphries is hopeful the change in approach can unlock new solutions.

“Disease is a challenging area to get meaningful R&D breakthroughs; we make headway on a promising solution and then, BAM! It’s back to the drawing board,” Mr Humphries said.

“Couple that with the piecemeal ‘one project here, one project there’ approach the industry has relied on for the last 30 years, and it means new solutions aren’t coming fast enough.”

Mr Humphries estimates disease costs his business 20pc of his gross income per annum.

“I want to claw that 20pc back, so I’m hopeful that bringing experts together in a strategic, coordinated way that eases the burden for cotton growers into the future.”

Source: CRDC, UniSQ

NOTE: The concept for the ACDC partnership, minus UniSQ, was announced in July 2023.